1933-2024

Bachelor of Journalism (1960), Master’s in Journalism (1973), Master’s in European History (1992), and a PhD in European History (1997).

Elizabeth Winona Oliver (‘Bette W. Oliver’) passed peacefully on Saturday June 22, 2024 after a brief illness.
She was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, to Symmes Francis and Winona Oliver.

During World War II, the family, which included her older brother Symmes Chadwick (‘Chad’), moved to Texas. She attended Tivy High School in Kerrville, and later attended the University of Texas at Austin, where she earned several degrees: Bachelor of Journalism (1960), Master’s in Journalism (1973), Master’s in European History (1992), and a PhD in European History (1997).

She worked at television station KLRN in Austin, as a writer, then as manager of the Department of Public Information, from 1973-1980.

From 1984-2005, she served as Associate Editor of Libraries & Culture, published quarterly by the University of Texas Press.

Oliver also worked for many years as a freelance writer and editor, living and researching in France for several books on 18th Century France.

She authored numerous titles as ‘Bette W. Oliver,’ including From Royal to National: The Louvre Museum and the Bibliothèque Nationale (2007), Orphans on the Earth: Girondin Fugitives from the Terror (2009), Surviving the French Revolution: A Bridge Across Time (2013), Jean-Baptiste-Pierre LeBrun: In Pursuit of Art (1748–1813), and the trilogy The Price of Liberty: A Memoir of the Great Revolution buy Pierre Francois Cholet (2021), The Price of Order: From Republic to Empire (2023), and The Price of Monarchy: From Empire to Monarchy (2024). As ‘Elizabeth W. Oliver,’ she also authored and released numerous volumes of poetry.

A self-taught painter, many of her pieces incorporated variants of her favorite color, blue.

She lived her life colorfully and with deliberateness, and in the end was tranquil and fulfilled, repeatedly and confidently asserting “I’ve done everything I ever wanted to do.” Despite this, she will be missed profoundly.

Oliver is survived by children Alfred Matlage, Carrie Matlage and her husband Rolando Guajardo, and John Matlage and John’s daughters Jessica Matlage and Amanda Matlage, niece Kim Oliver and her partner Robert Carstensen, Kim’s daughter Nicole, nephew Glen Oliver, his wife Margaret, and their sons David Oliver and Teddy Coltman-Oilver, a large assortment of friends and neighbors who meant more to her than they can ever understand, and her beloved companion cat Libby.

Memorial Mass will be at 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday, July 10, 2024, at St. Austin’s Catholic Church at 2026 Guadalupe Street, Austin, Texas 78705.